Avionics engineers and aviation governing authorities are improving situational awareness of pilots and flight crews by providing them with information necessary to identify aircraft in flight, i.e., in-flight traffic. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has developed surveillance and broadcast services designed to provide in-flight traffic information. These traffic information services include automatic dependent surveillance—broadcast (ADS-B) system and traffic information services—broadcast (TIS-B) system.
The ADS-B system is capable of broadcasting aerial traffic information such as position, velocity, and status information from an aircraft at regular intervals using position information obtained from onboard navigation systems. The TIS-B system includes a ground station which also provides aerial traffic information such as position, velocity, and status information of air and ground vehicles using information obtained from ADS-B, primary surveillance radar (which requires no reply from an aircraft), secondary surveillance radar (which requires aircraft to reply to interrogations), and other systems. The ADS-B system is commonly seen as a primary datalink, and the TIS-B is seen as a secondary datalink. Each of the systems provides a datalink to one or more other aircraft. A further source of traffic information may be provided from air traffic control (ATC) via looking out the window or through a ground based or other radar systems, e.g., the secondary surveillance radar. This information can then be communicated by the ATC to any aircraft within the vicinity of the airport.
Besides these systems of reporting in-flight traffic information, the market of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (singularly, UAV) is developing exponentially at the time of this writing. As it develops, UAVs may be subjected to regulatory constraints in the areas in which they operate.
Generally, most UAVs are small when compared to most manned aerial vehicles. Because of their relatively small size, it may be too burdensome or prohibitive for operators to outfit or configure their aircraft with ADS-B components required of aircraft participating in the ADS-B system. The costs, weight, and size of these components may hinder and/or preclude UAVs from being flown.